Identify steel

K

kl101

Joined
Oct 4, 1999
Messages
119
Does any one know of any easy/inexpensive way to identify the steel in a blade of unknown origin. As a avid frequenter of garage sales I come across a lot of kitchen knives (rarely any folders or sheath knives of any value). Most of the kitchen blades are clearly junk but occasionally there will be some kitchen knives with good fit and finish etc but lacking any markings to provide 'provenance'. Without going through sharpening and testing to see how well they hold a blade is there any way to ID the steel?
 
If the knife looks stained / rusted it's probably carbon steel. If it isn't, it's probably stainless. If it doesn't list what kind of steel it is on the blade it's probably something generic.
 
The best you can do is tell if it is carbon or stainless. Most factory carbon steels used are simple straight carbon steels like 1095 or 0-1.

Stainless wasn't all that great till the 1950's-60's in terms of heat treating, etc... I would leave it alone unless it's a known brand or design.
 
The only way I can think of is an electron microscope and that isnt exacltly the most cost-effective method as for every knife you test you could probably go out and buy a few nice new ones.
 
There is some way to analize spark color, red or yellow or something like that. But I don't know exaktly how.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Sharpening is the best way to determine blade material quality. Very few kitchen blades are marked in ways that hint at what is in them. It is usually a good sign if they say that they are tungsten or vanadium stainless. It is a sign of quality if they are marked molybdenum stainless, but it usually means that they are hard to sharpen. If you have any trade names on the knives we might be able to tell you something about the quality of the knives. I have purchased maybe a couple hundred knives at garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets over the years and I have experimented with a lot of brands.
 
Often times the design of the knife makes more difference than the materials. You want blades that are flat ground, hollow ground, or a high saber grind. It is a sign of very low quality and low performance if the edge is ground straight onto flat sheet metal, even if the handle looks good. The most utilitarian designs are like chefs knives that allow you to rock the entire blade edge along a cutting board without banging your knuckles. A heavy blade is not necessarily a sign of quality, particularly if the bevel behind the edge is thick. I generally look for Japanese or German knives as a first choice.
 
I'll move this thread to Shop Talk for you.

While I'm here, the spark test only tells you how much carbon is in it. The more carbon the more the sparks will branch.
 
Spark testing pretty much does limit you to how much carbon is present, but that is a key point in the quality of the steel. Higher carbon throws a long forked "hairy" spark.
It can identify some other materials as well, titanium throws a bright white spark like nothing else.
This probably isn't much help though, since the garage sale people probably won't let you take a bench grinder to their knives until AFTER you buy them :D
 
if it has whitish yellow shparks that are "fuzzy" looking(imagine a sparkler) then its high carbon steel. mild steel is a dark orange color that shoots one spark, that doesnt branch off. just about all kitchen knives where made of stainless past the 60's from what ive heard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top